A variety of devices have long been utilized to treat and dispense purified water. Such devices typically include a variety of filters, adsorption mediums and reverse osmosis membranes to remove organic and inorganic substances. Some also include ultraviolet light sources which are used to irradiate the treated water as another means of destroying microorganism that would contaminate the water. As purified water has become more widely used new apparatus and methods have been developed to purify and dispense it to a broader range of locations. One particular type of system allows municipal or approved potable well water to be purified and dispensed to grocery store customers and the like who fill a container at a stationary dispensing unit located on or about the store premises.
In some self service type dispensers, the dispenser spouts are often moveable up and down to accommodate a variety of container sizes having different heights that must fit beneath the spout. In the past it has been possible for the customer to be injured if they placed their fingers between the moving spout and the container mouth as the motor which drives the spout comes down to engage the container mouth to avoid spillage.
Customers will also often intermittently activate or adjust for low flow the control valve which controls the flow of water through the spout while "topping off" the fill of their container. This requires a constant cycling of the dispenser pump and requires the pump to cycle on and off while pumping water out of the spout at a low flow rate. Such dispensing usage has been known to cause undue wear and tear on the pump as it constantly starts up and shuts down. Dispenser inoperability may result if the pump fails and costly non-scheduled maintenance visits may result. This in turn will result in lost revenue and customer frustration until the normal maintenance intercession occurs.